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iPhone 15 OLED Supplier Still Plagued by Leaky Light Issues

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Apple supplier BOE still can't catch a break in its production of OLED displays for iPhone 15 models. According to a new report by DigiTimes, the Chinese-based manufacturer is still struggling to expand panel supply due to yield issues.

iphone-15-dynamic-island.jpg

Despite investing in panel research and development, BOE has continually struggled with yield rate problems, particularly for OLED panels for the iPhone 15 basic model. The panels were conditionally approved for mass production by Apple in March 2023, but in September the supplier failed to get formal approval and Apple ended up dropping the order.

BOE was supposed to be supplying OLED displays for both the standard ‌iPhone 15‌ and larger ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus, but that fell through when the manufacturer experienced problems with light leakage around the portion of the OLED display where the pill and hole cutouts secure the space necessary for the TrueDepth camera and Face ID, where the Dynamic Island is located.
Initial speculations suggested that BOE might supply around 5 million iPhone 15 panels in 2023. However, due to delays and poor yield rates, the expected supply volume has been reduced to 2 to 3 million panels. What makes things worse for BOE is that the light leakage is harder to avoid on a larger panel. As a result, it is now considered very unlikely that BOE will get production approval for the iPhone 15 Plus panels in 2023. Its yield rate is still estimated to be around only 30%.

Currently, Samsung Display supplies panels for the entire iPhone 15 series and held a 91% market share in these kinds of panels from June to August 2023. If BOE cannot expand its supply, Samsung will reap the benefits once again.

Article Link: iPhone 15 OLED Supplier Still Plagued by Leaky Light Issues
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/05/iphone-15-oled-supplier-problems-persist/
  • Haha
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UPDATE：I do not endorse comments that overly disparage BOE. Some of the comments were even discriminatory.
CSOT and BOE have achieved good results in the field of high-frequency PWM eye protection, and hope that they can solve the display effect at the same time.


ORIGINAL：The darkest hour of BOE. Although BOE has made great progress in the past few years...
 
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  • Disagree
  • Wow
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BOE had terrible displays on the Razer mini led laptops. I know were talking about OLED here but BOE just leaves an awful taste in my mouth anytime i see or hear about them. It had god awful blooming and contrast, blacks looked grey it was terrible. The mini-led in the MBPs now those are gorgeous displays.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Steve-Jobz
mazz0 said:
Not dark enough apparently :'D

BOE displays are also garnering a poor reputation amongst Steam Deck users, where anecdotal reports on Reddit indicate that BOE's screens have far more dead pixels than Samsung's.
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That’s awful.
 
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They should rename the company to WOE. Worst on Earth. Terrible quality. Sitting here with a new steam deck with a BOE screen with 4 stuck/dead pixels prominently in my field of view. I think I am going to forgo any future purchases if they contain BOE screens. What is this 2010.
 
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bit_bucket said:
They should rename the company to WOE. Worst on Earth. Terrible quality. Sitting here with a new steam deck with a BOE screen with 4 stuck/dead pixels prominently in my field of view. I think I am going to forgo any future purchases if they contain BOE screens. What is this 2010.
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Get the Steam Deck OLED. It's literally the same panel as Nintendo Switch OLED, which is provided by Samsung.
 
BorisDG said:
Get the Steam Deck OLED. It's literally the same panel as Nintendo Switch OLED, which is provided by Samsung.
Click to expand...

Valve used both Samsung and BOE for the OLED displays, with the translucent “Limited Edition” model predominantly using BOE OLED panels. I got lucky with mine not having dead pixels, but many people have had a slew of dead pixels on theirs, as well as getting RMA’d LE decks back with even more dead pixels.

I’ve yet to see anyone with a Samsung non-LE OLED deck get one with any dead pixels.
 
I am surprised Apple are still considering BOE as the panel supplier after so many failed attempts. IMO, they should stick to Samsung and perhaps LG as a backup solution. Samsung screens are great.
 
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BorisDG said:
Get the Steam Deck OLED. It's literally the same panel as Nintendo Switch OLED, which is provided by Samsung.
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I can't be literally the same panel, different aspect ratio.

It may well be from the same design of panel though.
 
falkon-engine said:
BoE might as well be DoA at this point. With all the false starts and quality issues, why does Apple persist with this company? Apple left Intel behind, so why not BoE as well?
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  1. Supplier redundancy - if something happens that knocks out Samsung, Apple has a secondary supplier to get displays from;
  2. I expect BOE is willing to charge less than Samsung for their displays, so if they can (eventually) meet Apple's requirements, that will improve margins on iPhones with BOE displays.
 
BOE also have very poor quality OLED screens on the Steam Deck with dead pixels as well while the Samsung versions are overall very good as usual.

Really wish companies would stop using BOE as they are just crap.
 
Ever since BOE secretly changed the design of those parts for Apple, I avoid them like the plague on any device.

Trying your hardest and failing is one thing. Secretly changing the design, however, shows a lack of integrity.
 
BorisDG said:
Get the Steam Deck OLED. It's literally the same panel as Nintendo Switch OLED, which is provided by Samsung.
Click to expand...
I purchased the Steam Deck OLED (LE). The LE's were the ones they dumped this garbage panel into. Once parts become available, I am going to order a Samsung panel and change it out. Sucks to have to do that with a new product, but they no longer have the LE and I love the color way on that.
 
Well, at least the iPhone 15 has other cutting edge technology, such as USB 2.0:

Will iPhone 14 be USB 2.0? Probably, since Cook is mediocre.

Apple computers have had USB 3.0 since mid-2012. That is 10 years ago. Despite that, Tim Cook, being the mediocre beancounter MBA suit that he is, has still not done anything to upgrade the connectivity on the latest iPhones. The latest iPhones use the same USB 2.0 connectivity that shipped with...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
CWallace said:
  1. Supplier redundancy - if something happens that knocks out Samsung, Apple has a secondary supplier to get displays from;
  2. I expect BOE is willing to charge less than Samsung for their displays, so if they can (eventually) meet Apple's requirements, that will improve margins on iPhones with BOE displays.
Click to expand...
Yes. I agree with the two points you made and that is my understanding too... a bargaining chip against samsung and lg display. But time and time again, BOE has failed to deliver. Year after year. At some point, I'd think, it's time to move on.
 
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